Skip to main content

Editorial Content for Fire with Fire

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

If you are not currently reading Candice Fox, you need to remedy that right now. For years she has been one of my go-to writers, having initially fallen in love with her thrillers set in her native Australia. She then teamed up with the legendary James Patterson on a handful of novels, which helped put her on the map as a top-flight author. Read More

Teaser

Following their daughter's mysterious disappearance, Ryan and Elsie Delaney have taken the LAPD forensic lab hostage and given law enforcement an ultimatum: Find their daughter, Tilly, or they will destroy all the evidence they can find to other cold cases. Detective Charlie Hoskins has been undercover in a deadly motorcycle gang for five years. With his cover blown, he has no choice but to find Tilly himself or lose everything he's worked for as the lab burns. Lynette Lamb was a police officer --- until yesterday, when she was fired before her first beat. Figuring out what happened to Tilly is her one and only chance at rejoining the career she's prepared her whole life for. Hoskins and Lamb will have to team up to solve this cold case before the situation explodes.

Promo

Following their daughter's mysterious disappearance, Ryan and Elsie Delaney have taken the LAPD forensic lab hostage and given law enforcement an ultimatum: Find their daughter, Tilly, or they will destroy all the evidence they can find to other cold cases. Detective Charlie Hoskins has been undercover in a deadly motorcycle gang for five years. With his cover blown, he has no choice but to find Tilly himself or lose everything he's worked for as the lab burns. Lynette Lamb was a police officer --- until yesterday, when she was fired before her first beat. Figuring out what happened to Tilly is her one and only chance at rejoining the career she's prepared her whole life for. Hoskins and Lamb will have to team up to solve this cold case before the situation explodes.

About the Book

A pair of desperate parents. A man on the run. A rookie cop.

Four people with everything on the line.

What will be left in the ashes of the next 24 hours?

Following their daughter's mysterious disappearance, Ryan and Elsie Delaney have taken the LAPD forensic lab hostage, and have given law enforcement an ultimatum: Find their daughter, Tilly, or they will destroy all the evidence they can find to other cold cases.

Detective Charlie Hoskins has been undercover in a deadly motorcycle gang for five years. With his cover blown, he has no choice but to find Tilly himself, or lose everything he's worked for as the lab burns.

Lynette Lamb was a police officer --- until yesterday, when she was fired before her first beat. Figuring out what happened to Tilly is her one and only chance at rejoining the career she's prepared her whole life for.

Hoskins and Lamb will have to team up to solve this cold case, and will have to move fast --- before the situation explodes.

Audiobook available, read by Jay Aaseng

Editorial Content for The Wrong Good Deed

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Two aging women, Muffin and Clemmie, are attending a new church this morning, away from Sun City, their retirement community. Suddenly, Muffin elbows Clemmie, whispers urgently, then nearly trips over her in a panic to get out of the pew. Unsure of what’s going on, Clemmie rushes after her. Besides being her friend, Muffin has ridden to church with her. Read More

Teaser

1964: Christaphine is 20 years old and determined to make a home and a life for her and her husband, Tommy. But when Christaphine discovers Tommy and his friends on the verge of committing a horrible crime, she does what she has to do to stop them. Afterwards, she knows she can't ever go home again. So she disappears. Fifty years later: When Clemmie's neighbor, Muffin, drags her from Sunday morning service at Trinity Hill Church, convinced that the man she's just spotted across the aisle is a dangerous figure from her past, at first Clemmie thinks she's being dramatic. But as Muffin reveals to Clemmie what happened in the middle of a field in South Carolina five decades ago, Clemmie realizes her friend has been keeping dark secrets --- just as Clemmie herself has.

Promo

1964: Christaphine is 20 years old and determined to make a home and a life for her and her husband, Tommy. But when Christaphine discovers Tommy and his friends on the verge of committing a horrible crime, she does what she has to do to stop them. Afterwards, she knows she can't ever go home again. So she disappears. Fifty years later: When Clemmie's neighbor, Muffin, drags her from Sunday morning service at Trinity Hill Church, convinced that the man she's just spotted across the aisle is a dangerous figure from her past, at first Clemmie thinks she's being dramatic. But as Muffin reveals to Clemmie what happened in the middle of a field in South Carolina five decades ago, Clemmie realizes her friend has been keeping dark secrets --- just as Clemmie herself has.

About the Book

Beloved international bestselling author Caroline B. Cooney captures the technicolor complicated human heart in this literary Southern mystery about one secret afternoon in 1964 when a young wife barreling down a dirt road in her station wagon chooses not to be a bystander.

Until this Sunday, Muffin never looked back.

1964: Christaphine is 20 years old, newly married, and determined to make a home and a life for her and her husband, Tommy. But when Christaphine discovers Tommy and his friends on the verge of committing a horrible crime, she does what she has to do to stop them. Afterwards, she knows she can't ever go home again --- so she disappears...until this Sunday.

Fifty years later: When Clemmie's neighbor, Muffin, drags her from Sunday morning service at Trinity Hill Church, convinced that the man she's just spotted across the aisle is a dangerous figure from her past, at first Clemmie thinks she's being dramatic. But as Muffin reveals to Clemmie what happened in the middle of a field in South Carolina five decades ago, Clemmie realizes her friend has been keeping dark secrets --- just as Clemmie herself has. And the secrets that belong to both women are not the kind that can be revealed without dire consequences.

Audiobook available, read by Mary Boyer

Editorial Content for Women We Buried, Women We Burned: A Memoir

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Rachel Louise Snyder’s memoir, WOMEN WE BURIED, WOMEN WE BURNED, opens with a harrowing scene. Eight-year-old Rachel and her older brother, David, return from school to find an ambulance parked in front of their house. This, in and of itself, is not a remarkable occurrence; their mother, Gail, has been ill for nearly as long as Rachel can remember. This time, however, the ambulance is parked outside. Inside, Rachel’s mother --- accompanied by Rachel’s grandmother and aunt --- struggles to breathe, eventually drawing her last desperate breath as her daughter looks on. Read More

Teaser

For decades, journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has been a fierce advocate reporting on the darkest social issues that impact women's lives. WOMEN WE BURIED, WOMEN WE BURNED is her own story. When eight-year-old Rachel's mother died, her distraught father thrust the family into extreme evangelicalism. After a childhood marked by silent rage, teenage Rachel became outwardly furious. She was expelled from school and home at age 16. Living out of her car and relying on strangers, Rachel found herself masquerading as an adult, talking her way into college and eventually traveling the globe. Survival became her reporter's beat. In places like India, Tibet, Niger and Cambodia, she witnessed those who had been through the unimaginable choosing hope over despair.

Promo

For decades, journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has been a fierce advocate reporting on the darkest social issues that impact women's lives. WOMEN WE BURIED, WOMEN WE BURNED is her own story. When eight-year-old Rachel's mother died, her distraught father thrust the family into extreme evangelicalism. After a childhood marked by silent rage, teenage Rachel became outwardly furious. She was expelled from school and home at age 16. Living out of her car and relying on strangers, Rachel found herself masquerading as an adult, talking her way into college and eventually traveling the globe. Survival became her reporter's beat. In places like India, Tibet, Niger and Cambodia, she witnessed those who had been through the unimaginable choosing hope over despair.

About the Book

For decades, journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has been a fierce advocate reporting on the darkest social issues that impact women's lives. WOMEN WE BURIED, WOMEN WE BURNED is her own story.

When eight-year-old Rachel's mother died, her distraught father thrust the family into extreme evangelicalism. After a childhood marked by silent rage, teenage Rachel became outwardly furious. She was expelled from school and home at age 16. Living out of her car and relying on strangers, Rachel found herself masquerading as an adult, talking her way into college and eventually traveling the globe.

Survival became her reporter's beat. In places like India, Tibet, Niger and Cambodia, she witnessed those who had been through the unimaginable choosing hope over despair. She returned to the States more appreciative of complexity, more generous, and open to the healing that would come from a most unexpected place.

Editorial Content for The Last Songbird: A Pacific Coast Highway Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Megan Elliott

A down-on-his-luck Lyft driver turns amateur PI in Daniel Weizmann’s slick neo-noir, THE LAST SONGBIRD. Addy Zantz is pushing 40, living in the storage space of a struggling recording studio, and has already failed at several careers, including songwriter, pop critic and recording engineer. Flaming out as a rideshare driver is not an option, which is one reason he’s in a rush to make his latest pickup: legendary singer-songwriter Annie Linden. Read More

Teaser

A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his vehicle. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app. Over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver, and Annie listens to his music. Then Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final cryptic text --- “come to my arms” --- a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past and comes to question how well he (or anyone else) knew her --- if at all.

Promo

A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his vehicle. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app. Over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver, and Annie listens to his music. Then Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final cryptic text --- “come to my arms” --- a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past and comes to question how well he (or anyone else) knew her --- if at all.

About the Book

A gritty, fast-paced neo-noir that explores the consumptive nature of fame, celebrity and motherhood through the lens of a driver lost in the gig economy.

A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his dented VW Jetta. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app. Over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver and Annie listens to his music, encouraging Adam even as he finds himself driving more often than songwriting.

Then Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final, cryptic text --- “come to my arms” --- a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past, turning up an old guitar teacher, sworn enemies and lovers, and a long-held secret that spills into the dark world of a shocking underground Men’s Rights movement. As he drives the outskirts of Los Angeles in California, Adam comes to question how well he, or anyone else, knew Annie --- if at all. 

THE LAST SONGBIRD is a poignant novel about love, obsession, the price of fame and the burden of broken dreams, with a shifting, twisting plot that's full of unexpected turns.

Editorial Content for Cloud Girls

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Following the publication of her “Read with Jenna” pick, BRIGHT BURNING THINGS, Lisa Harding celebrates the American release of her debut novel, CLOUD GIRLS, which was first published as HARVESTING in Ireland in 2017. Chronicling the lives of two young girls sold into sex trafficking, this startling, unforgettable book with a ripped-from-the-headlines premise educates as much as it shocks and horrifies. Read More

Teaser

Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn 13. As her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Consequently, Nico is shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel. As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship --- and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive --- form a potent bond.

Promo

Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn 13. As her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Consequently, Nico is shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel. As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship --- and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive --- form a potent bond.

About the Book

Thrown together by a harrowing twist of fate, two girls will find hope and redemption in friendship in this award-winning, emotional gut punch of a novel from the author of BRIGHT BURNING THINGS.

Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Failed by them at every turn, Sammy acts out, seeking attention from boys, then men, when what she wants most is protection.

Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn 13 and as her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Her family knows that the nice life this stranger seems to be offering Nico is too good to be true, but they and Nico hope for the best as she’s shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel.

As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship --- and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive --- form a potent bond.

Heartbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful, CLOUD GIRLS exposes the failings of polite society and the cruelty that exists beneath its surface, yet reminds us that goodness and love can flourish in the darkest times.

Audiobook available, read by Barrie Kreinik and Jennifer Fitzgerald

Editorial Content for On Fire Island

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Lorraine W. Shanley

Julia Morse, the narrator of this elegiac novel, has just died. But before she can move on, she needs to make sure that her husband, Ben, is going to be okay without her. So when he goes to their Fire Island house for the summer, she (or her not-quite-palpable spirit) follows.

"Jane L. Rosen...makes her characters and the setting feel both familiar and worthy of the reader’s time."

Teaser

As a book editor, Julia Morse lived and breathed stories. Whether with her pen to a manuscript or curled up with a book while at her beloved Fire Island cottage, her imagination alight with a good tale, she could anticipate practically any ending. The ending she’d never imagined was her own. To be fair, no one expects to die at 37. So when the unthinkable happens to Julia, rather than following the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, she chooses to spend one last summer near those she loves most. As she follows her adoring, novelist husband Ben to their --- unexpectedly full --- home on Fire Island, she discovers the ripple effect her life has had on the trajectory of so many.

Promo

As a book editor, Julia Morse lived and breathed stories. Whether with her pen to a manuscript or curled up with a book while at her beloved Fire Island cottage, her imagination alight with a good tale, she could anticipate practically any ending. The ending she’d never imagined was her own. To be fair, no one expects to die at 37. So when the unthinkable happens to Julia, rather than following the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, she chooses to spend one last summer near those she loves most. As she follows her adoring, novelist husband Ben to their --- unexpectedly full --- home on Fire Island, she discovers the ripple effect her life has had on the trajectory of so many.

About the Book

A book editor spends one last summer on Fire Island in this sparkling and surprising new novel from the author of A SHOE STORY.

As a book editor, Julia Morse lived and breathed stories. Whether with her pen to a manuscript or curled up with a book while at her beloved Fire Island cottage, her imagination alight with a good tale, she could anticipate practically any ending. The ending she’d never imagined was her own.

To be fair, no one expects to die at 37. So when the unthinkable happens to Julia, rather than following the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, she chooses to spend one last summer near those she loves most.  

As she follows her adoring, novelist husband Ben to their --- unexpectedly full --- home on Fire Island, she discovers the ripple affect her life has had on the trajectory of so many: her baseball loving, young-at-heart neighbor who believes it’s best not to go it alone, two bright-eyed teenagers eager to become adults, and her best friend who must shake off heartbreak for a new chance at love.

With poignant comedy and insight, ON FIRE ISLAND is an ode to the stories all around us and to the brightest types of loves...for the people closest to you and the places that shape you.

Audiobook available, read by Emily Lawrence

Editorial Content for Adrift

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

ADRIFT, Lisa Brideau’s debut novel, is a terrific thriller with an amnesiac protagonist who is navigating a world similar to yet starkly different from our own and still picking up the pieces from a pandemic. Read More

Teaser

Ess wakes up alone on a sailboat in the remote Pacific Northwest with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She finds a note, but it's more warning than comfort: Start over. Don't make yourself known. Don't look back. Ess must have answers. She sails over a turbulent ocean to a town hundreds of miles away that she hopes might offer insight. The chilling clues she uncovers point to a desperate attempt at erasing her former life. But why? And someone is watching her…someone who knows she must never learn her truth. In Ess' world, the earth is precariously balanced at a climate tipping point, and she is perched at the edge of a choice. Which life does she want? The one taken from her --- and the dangerous secret that was buried --- or the new one she can make for herself?

Promo

Ess wakes up alone on a sailboat in the remote Pacific Northwest with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She finds a note, but it's more warning than comfort: Start over. Don't make yourself known. Don't look back. Ess must have answers. She sails over a turbulent ocean to a town hundreds of miles away that she hopes might offer insight. The chilling clues she uncovers point to a desperate attempt at erasing her former life. But why? And someone is watching her…someone who knows she must never learn her truth. In Ess' world, the earth is precariously balanced at a climate tipping point, and she is perched at the edge of a choice. Which life does she want? The one taken from her --- and the dangerous secret that was buried --- or the new one she can make for herself?

About the Book

For fans of THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME comes a page-turning thriller about hidden identities and the terrifying realities of climate change.

The truth won't always set you free...

Ess wakes up alone on a sailboat in the remote Pacific Northwest with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She finds a note, but it's more warning than comfort: Start over. Don't make yourself known. Don't look back. 

Ess must have answers. She sails over a turbulent ocean to a town hundreds of miles away that she hopes might offer insight. The chilling clues she uncovers point to a desperate attempt at erasing her former life. But why? And someone is watching her…someone who knows she must never learn her truth. 

In Ess' world, the earth is precariously balanced at a climate tipping point, and she is perched at the edge of a choice. Which life does she want? The one taken from her --- and the dangerous secret that was buried --- or the new one she can make for herself?

A galvanizing riddle that is just as unmooring as it seems, this sharp character-driven odyssey explores a future challenged by our quickly changing world and the choices we must make to save what matters most.

Editorial Content for Gumshoe on the Run: A Mortimer Angel Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

L. Dean Murphy

“Oh, boy. I’ve heard this is not good --- girls coming into bars with you here, Mort, especially ones that look like models.” Read More

Teaser

Mortimer Angel, still a private eye in training, answers a strange, ominous invitation and ends up on the run with a gorgeous girl, Ella Kassel. Chased by unknown killers and wanted by the FBI, Mort and Ella must thread an investigative needle to determine who the real enemy is while they try to discover who murdered the deputy director of the FBI. In disguise and off the grid, Mort ends up in the deadliest situation of his career.

Promo

Mortimer Angel, still a private eye in training, answers a strange, ominous invitation and ends up on the run with a gorgeous girl, Ella Kassel. Chased by unknown killers and wanted by the FBI, Mort and Ella must thread an investigative needle to determine who the real enemy is while they try to discover who murdered the deputy director of the FBI. In disguise and off the grid, Mort ends up in the deadliest situation of his career.

About the Book

Mortimer Angel, still a private eye in training, answers a strange, ominous invitation and ends up on the run with a gorgeous girl, Ella Kassel. Chased by unknown killers and wanted by the FBI, Mort and Ella must thread an investigative needle to determine who the real enemy is while they try to discover who murdered the deputy director of the FBI. In disguise and off the grid, Mort ends up in the deadliest situation of his career.

May 26, 2023

The peony buds have burst into flowers. I have never seen them as lush as this year. I think the mild winter may have something to do with it. And they are not shedding their petals as quickly as they usually do. I have been cutting some and arranging them around the house. They look like delicate snowballs.

I am crazy about the plants that the boys gave me for Mother’s Day. Greg gave me the pink and white dahlia, and I dashed out to get one to match it. Cory’s gift was a pentas plant, and it too has pink flowers. Last year, I planted some seeds; at the end of the summer, there were some green stems growing, but they did not have any buds on them. I left it outside, they wintered over, and it’s Sweet William flowers. Who knew? I also bought two clematis plants, and I am trying to figure out where I want to plant them.

Do you listen to digital audiobooks?

May 26, 2023, 451 voters